Crude oil is a naturally occurring, unrefined petroleum product comprising mixture of hydrocarbons and other organic material, extracted from natural underground reservoirs. Crude oils are processed and refined at petroleum refineries to produce commercially applicable refinery products, such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, etc.
Generally, a number of crude oils are selected by refineries for making commercially applicable refinery products. Crude oils are of many types which come from different sources around the world. The decision as to what crude oil or combination of crude oil to process depends on many factors including quality, availability, volume, demand, product specifications, and price. Further, the amounts and properties of the refinery products that can be obtained from each crude oil is also an important factor. Selection of crude oils is, therefore, a key part of refining process.
The refining process begins as a simple distillation of crude oil, which yields different refinery products and byproducts like residues, at different temperatures. The residues may be subjected to different processes that may involve addition of cutter stock for ease of processing of the residues. The addition of cutter stock in such processes may incur more expenses, change properties of refinery products, and/or impact the quality of the commercial products produced. Therefore, the amount of cutter stock used could impact the economics of refining processes and influence crude oil selection.